After sentencing, a family members of one of the Spring Valley teens are emotional as they leave the Rockland County Court House in New City on Nov. 30, 2012. / John Meore/The Journal News

Jerry Jean-Baptiste

Rey Jey Alexis

More

ADVERTISEMENT

The four Ramapo boys convicted of gang-raping a girl and attacking another six months ago were each sentenced to 18 months in a limited-security juvenile detention facility Friday, causing an outpouring of grief in the courtroom as the boys’ families erupted into tears and wails.

The boys — 13-year-olds Guerson Bellevue, Kensley St. Fleur, Jerry Jean-Baptiste and Rey Jey “R Kelly” Alexis, who was 12 at the time of the attacks — began crying and held their hands over their faces as Family Court Judge Sherri Eisenpress read the sentences during a 10-minute hearing. Several women collapsed on their husbands’ laps.

The commotion extended to the halls of Family Court, where relatives waiting outside the courtroom began crying and yelling. One parent came out and dove head-first down the hallway, laying on his back with his hands crossing his chest and screaming as if in pain. One father yelled out that his son was a victim of “lies,” and blamed the media. The families were escorted out by court officers while sheriff’s deputies patrolled the parking lot.

Outside the courthouse, attorney Larry Gantt, who represented Bellevue, told reporters how the boys’ parents supported them through the difficult six months since the attacks.

“What we saw here was human suffering by these children, and these are children,” he said. “We know our clients committed egregious acts but they are still children, and their parents, most importantly, are suffering as well.”

After six days of testimony this summer, Eisenpress found the four boys guilty of four counts each of first-degree criminal sex act, which covers sodomizing the older girl. They also were convicted of sexual abuse for acting together in attacking the younger girl.

Eisenpress also found Bellevue guilty of first-degree rape for having vaginal intercourse with the older girl. The incidents occurred between June 11 and 13 at a Chestnut Ridge house.

During the sentencing, Eisenpress reminded the boys they could have faced a more severe punishment — the maximum sentence was incarceration in a juvenile facility for up to three years or until their 18th birthday.

(Page 2 of 4)

The judge praised the boys and their parents for following court restrictions on home confinement. She also offered them hope, saying if they followed the rules at the treatment facilities, behaved and cooperated, they might spend less time away from home. She also warned them if they didn’t behave, their term could become longer.

She said what turned her toward placing them in a treatment facility was their lack of understanding of their actions when they sexually abused the two girls.

“The most troubling to the court — I won’t say lack of remorse — a real lack of demonstration (regarding) the egregiousness of the offense,” Eisenpress said.

She said that as a parent, she understood supporting children, but that the boys’ parents lacked a real acceptance of the gravity of what their children have done.

“It cost them a lot in time and money, and as a parent myself I understand how stressful it’s been,” she said.

Eisenpress said treatment hopefully will mean the boys will live more positive lives, and not stand in front of a judge again.

“I don’t think you are bad kids,” she said. “I think you are kids and you made some very bad choices.”

The two victims and their families, one of whom attended a recent hearing with her mother, did not appear at the sentencing Friday.

Rockland County Probation Officer Jean Zambrano had recommended Eisenpress place all four boys under the auspices of the Office of Children and Family Services for treatment in a limited-security juvenile detention facility — a recommendation that prosecuting attorneys supported.

At presentencing hearings earlier Friday, lawyers for Jean-Baptiste and Alexis, as well as the two boys themselves, urged the judge to give them a second chance and allow them to receive outpatient treatment while remaining at home with their families.

Zambrano had recommended incarceration, noting the two boys’ repeated denials during interviews that the sexual attacks occurred. At previous hearings for Bellevue and St. Fleur, Zambrano had offered similar critical reports and said the two boys took minimal responsibility for their actions.

(Page 3 of 4)

Jean-Baptiste told the court Friday he’d denied his involvement in the attacks because he felt “ashamed and embarrassed” and said he wanted to apologize to the girls.

“I am really sorry,” he said. “Things escalated which it wasn’t supposed to, and we shouldn’t even have gone to the girls’ house.”

The boy’s lawyer, Lurlyn Winchester, acknowledged her client’s behavior was “not acceptable” and said it was “a very serious and one-time incident that had occurred.”

“For the most part, he’s been a very good young man,” Winchester said.

Jean-Baptiste’s father also testified, saying through a Creole-speaking translator he found the charges against his son “disturbing” following his arrest in June.

“The way we raised him, we didn’t think he would be involved in such a thing,” he said.

The father said if his son were allowed to remain home, he would be supervised after school and have no access to television or video games, and he couldn’t have friends over. He said his family is prepared to follow all court orders.

“If the court gives us another chance to leave Jerry with us ... we have our way of treating more than what the court will ask,” he said.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Di Stefano, who suggested the judge place the boys in a limited-security facility for 18 months, told Eisenpress that during an interview with Dr. Matthew Jacob on Nov. 19, Jean-Baptiste appeared “emotionally disconnected” and denied having sex with the girls.

In a separate hearing later Friday, Alexis told the court he was close with both of the victims before the attacks and described one of them as “like a sister.”

“I would never ever force (the victims) to do anything they didn’t want to do,” he said, reading from a piece of paper in a shaky, quiet voice.

He said he takes responsibility for losing focus in school and in church in the months prior to the attacks, but that he does not accept responsibility for sexually abusing the girls.

“I know I did not do anything with (the victims) against their will … all I ask your Honor is to please let me stay home with my loving family,” he said.

(Page 4 of 4)

His mother, Cassandra Alexis, testified she believed her son’s denials about his involvement.

“He is my son ... so if he told me something, I believe it,” she said.

Cassandra Alexis, who works two jobs to provide for her family, said her son, once an outgoing and happy child, now cries all the time and has trouble getting out of bed. Sometimes she has to prod him to eat, she said.

A psychologist who evaluated Alexis in September found him to be a low risk to reoffend and recommended he receive treatment while at home. Prosecuting attorney Barbara Wilmit poked holes in the evaluation, revealing during the hearing that Alexis’s behavior problems in school during the months prior to the incident hadn’t been considered during the evaluation and that his mother hadn’t been made aware of the past disciplinary actions at school.

Attorney David Goldstein, trying to show how his client is not a risk to the community, said one victim was “friends” with Alexis on Facebook.

“He has made tremendous strides, and the strides can only be equated to rehabilitation,” Goldstein said. “ ... school, church, homework, family, that’s all he’s been doing.”

At the sentencing, Eisenpress noted Alexis had shown improvement under house confinement. Yet she said all four boys minimized their involvement in the attacks, with Jean-Baptiste maintaining he didn’t touch the girls and Alexis telling the court the sex was consensual.